In case you missed it, the Atlanta Falcons came up with a crazy Week 8 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
With just 2:14 minutes left on the clock, the Falcons had a 31-28 lead. They were able to force a turnover and kick a field goal to make the lead a little bigger at 34–28.
By then, Carolina was left with just 36 seconds to come up with a scoring drive––and they did. Third-string quarterback P.J. Walker launched a rocket to D.J. Moore, who had two guys on him, for a 62-yard touchdown to tie the game.
PJ WALKER TO DJ MOORE HAIL MARY. PANTHERS TIE IT UP 😱😱😱😱
(via @NFL)
Walker set the Panthers up to ultimately win the game. However, when Moore ripped his helmet off to celebrate, he drew a 15-yard penalty, making it tougher on kicker Eddy Piñeiro to make a field goal at the 48-yard line. Piñeiro missed it.
Then, boom, over time.
He also missed his kick at the 32 in overtime. However, Younghoe Koo made his 41-yarder to seal a Falcons win.
Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming
“No, absolutely not,” Falcons head coach Arthur Smith said after the game when asked if he thought Walker would throw a deep ball like that.
Naturally, any coach who was, fairly easily, about to extend their record with another win would have been upset over what went down in the final seconds, but Smith managed to keep his cool.
“No matter what you’re really feeling inside, you gotta make decisions and you can’t lose your mind,” he said. “You got to remain neutral, I mean there are a lot of decisions you have to make. They can change on a whim.
“Goes from a hail mary to still enough time. You’re looking if you have a timeout. Think about possible chump plays you need to call. Then you got to make the decision to take it in or take on the extra point.”
Falcons HC Arthur Smith explains how he stays calm in a game like that
ESPN’s Michael Rothstein jumped in to ask Smith if quick and calm decisions making was one of the adjustments he had to make when switching from coordinator to head coach.
“Absolutely,” Smith said. “That’s why you have a good staff. And that’s why you have great communication in the headset between upstairs and guys on the sideline. So, everybody’s got a job to do. Most of it, you practice it before but you’re making sure everybody is in it personnel-wise.”
Your First Place Atlanta Falcons
With Sunday’s win over the Panthers, the Falcons (4-4) are the lone team in first place in the NFC South.
It’s been a long time since the Falcons have been holding the first place spot at .500––in 2016 to exact.
While Arthur Smith doesn’t want his team to get ahead of themselves, he couldn’t be prouder of the direction they’re headed.
“We’ve just got a lot of good guys, and we’ve got a stable situation,” Smith said. “And I’m hopeful we can continue on this path. We try to find the right people and you try to foster the right climate and get the right type of guys. … If somebody doesn’t want to do it that way, you’re probably not changing them.”
Atlanta’s next task will to be take on the AFC West second-place Los Angeles Chargers (4-3) at home this Sunday.
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Falcons HC Arthur Smith Reveals How He Stays Calm in Wild Game Situations